Matthew 20 and verse 20. Then came to him, to the Lord
Jesus, the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping
him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her,
What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that
these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the
other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup
that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, ye shall
drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that
I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and
on my left is not mine to give. But it shall be given to them
for whom it is prepared of my father. And when the ten heard
it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But
Jesus called them unto him. and said, You know that the princes of
the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are
great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so
among you. But whosoever will be great among
you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life. A ransom for many. This mother shows the depravity
of us all. She represents all of us in our
evil, in our pettiness and foolishness. Our Lord in the previous three
verses had just spoken of that one event around which all other
events revolve. And what a solemn truth That
he must die for his people. That he must do what his very
name says that he shall do. Save his people from their sins
by bearing the wrath of God for them. Bearing the sins themselves
and bearing the punishment of God for them. Solemn thought. Solemn truth. And she asks this
petty, prideful, ignorant question. And that's what it is. And you might think, well, she
had some faith. She's speaking of his kingdom.
You know, when you, when in your kingdom, let them sit on your
right and left hand. But we know that even this is
not faith. Even after our Lord did what
he told him in the context here that he was going to do, that
he would be betrayed and delivered into the hands of wicked men
and crucified and be raised again. Even when he had done that, the
disciples still didn't understand concerning Christ's true kingdom. In Acts chapter 1, verse 6, we
read, when they were therefore come together, they asked of
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel? They still wanted out from under
the oppression of the Romans. They were still thinking earthly
kingdom. And so I have no doubt she was
here also. So this is a snapshot of our
foolishness. The question is, can we see it
and can we learn from it by God's grace? Our Lord tells us through
his gospel of heavenly, vital, glorious things, and we're still
taken up with earthly, petty, foolish things. Right here, this
very moment, as we meet in this building. That's the way it is.
Isn't it right? Anybody better than that? And
shaking our heads at how foolish she is. That's the nature of our depravity
now. We ought to be shaking our heads at how foolish we are. Can somebody, let me ask this
question. Can somebody even know the Lord
and be this blind to what's truly important? Now you think about
what he just told them and what she's saying. I want my sons
to have a place of great honor, you know, in the kingdom. Can
anybody even know him and be that blind to what's truly important? I sure hope so, don't you? I
sure hope so. The answer is yes. Yes, they
can. Our salvation is not dependent
upon our knowledge. Of course, knowledge accompanies
salvation. He said this is life eternal,
that we might know Him, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
He sent. But I'll tell you this, if you're
prone to bragging constantly and without correction, as some
seem to be, as we seem to be so often, but if that's what
we're about, I know more than you, then we likely don't know
anything. I know this, our Lord has a way
of reminding His sheep that we're just that, sheep. Has He done
that for you lately? And look at our Lord's answer
to her. You don't know what you're asking. And how true this is
of all of us. Even in our most quote-unquote
spiritual moments, even when we're praying, and presumably
we've at least made an effort to cast off all of our vain and
foolish thoughts of the things of this world and bow before
our Father. You know, Paul said that even
then we don't know what to ask for as we ought. We don't know
what to ask for. Romans 8, 26, likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, thank God. For we know not what
we should pray for as we ought, But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." We
don't even know what to ask for. And this woman, she had no idea
what she was saying. She was asking for something
foolish. And there are two considerations here in our Lord's answer to
her. Now think about this. You don't know what you're asking.
He's saying two things, and they're clearly revealed in the text.
This is not me guessing at it. When we see the rest of this
text, you'll see these two things. One of the aspects of his answer
is this. It has to do with what will happen,
what's gonna happen. What is gonna happen reveals
that she didn't know what she was asking for. And the other
aspect deals with what is in her heart. And what's in the
hearts of those disciples that are standing around listening
to this? And we know they are because in Mark's account of
this same event, it says that James and John asked this question.
And so evidently she came with them and spoke for them on their
behalf, but they're standing right there with her. And probably
the other disciples were too. Well, we know they heard. I don't
know if they're standing right there, but we know they heard
because they got mad at them. And I would have too, wouldn't you?
So two things. Think about this. What would
happen? What's going to happen? First
of all, he said, you're going to drink the cup that I drink
of, but you don't know what you're asking. And we'll talk about
that a little bit. And then secondly, as we said,
he dealt with the pride that's in their hearts. He said, whosoever
will be greatest, let him be your servant. You don't know
what you're asking. You see the two different aspects?
They needed a lesson on what true greatness is. And so do
we. So do I. And in teaching them
what true greatness is, he of course, at the end, speaks of
himself. This whole thing started in the
context of him saying, the son of man is going to be betrayed,
delivered, crucify and rise again. And the whole context of the
immediate context of this ends with the same thing. As does
the gospel begins and ends with Christ crucified. Even as the
son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom for many. Many. What many? He shall save
his people from their sin. Brother Bob just read about them.
Those that the Father give me. That's it. And so let's look
at it. First of all, what would happen?
Can you drink of the cup? He asked that question. He tells
them that they would drink of it, but not like he did. Not
like he did. And not willingly like he did.
They're gonna taste of that cup. And he's saying here to them,
if you knew what you were asking for, you wouldn't ask for it. And I know, you know that's right.
In your own experience. Think of some of the things that
you've gone through, some cups that you've drunk. If you'd have
known about it beforehand, would you have drunk them? Would you
have wished it on yourself? Would you have asked for it?
Would you have asked for the result if you knew the means? And think about this, our Lord
knew what he was fixing to drink. He said, if you knew, you wouldn't
ask. But our Lord knew. And yet he drank. He drank. And he drank it all. Their drinking
didn't diminish his drinking. That's not the manner of this
cup. They didn't contribute to the drinking of the whole. He
drank all of it. And their drinking is just a
little taste, the fellowship of his sufferings. We'll talk
a little bit about that. But what he was about to drink,
look at Matthew 26, just a few pages over, verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples, sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, that's the same ones, James and John,
whose mother asked that in our text, and began, he began, the
Lord did, began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he
unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry
ye here and watch with me. Watch with me. You're not going
to drink the cup. I'm going to drink it. You just
watch. And they couldn't even do that. And he went a little
farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh, my father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, what? Could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter
not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, oh, my father, if this cup may not
pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep
again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away
again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh
he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and
take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand,
and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise,
let us be going. Behold, he is at hand. That doth
betray me. The disciples couldn't even stay
awake while our Lord began to drink that cup, much less could
they drink any of it themselves. You see why he asked that question
first? Can you drink of the cup that I'm going to drink from? But they wanted the benefit of
it. They wanted to sit on the throne, but they didn't want
to drink the cup. They couldn't drink the cup. They wanted the
reigning, but not the suffering. And that's why our Lord taught
them what he did here. When it came down to suffering
for him, they all forsook him and fled. Matthew 26, 31. And Jesus saith unto them, all
ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written,
I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall
be scattered abroad. That's what's in that first question
that he asked. Can you drink of the cup? We
can't even stand with him while he drinks it. In order for us to be saved at
all, irregardless of where we're going to sit, in order for us
to even be in the kingdom of God, the cup of the suffering
of the wrath of God must be drunk dry. And we couldn't even watch
with him while he drank it. And we talk about where we're
going to sit in the kingdom. Based on what? We weren't even smart enough
to know that he must drink it. In John 18 10, Simon Peter had
a sword and he drew it and he smoked the high priest's servant
and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
And then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath,
the cup, which my father hath given me. Don't you know that
I have to drink it? Shall I not drink it? And then they showed their absolute
ignorance again when they said, we're able. Can you drink of the cup that
I'm about to drink of? We're able. But when it came right down to
it, they proved themselves to be the spineless cowards that
they were. They didn't want any part of
it. Peter said later, all these may
forsake you, but not me. We have no idea what we're saying. That woman didn't know what she
was asking, and the disciples didn't know what they were saying
when they said we're able. And we don't either. We're able
to do what? Exactly nothing without him. Nothing. Now he said to them, you will
drink and you will be baptized. What did he mean by that? They
forsook him. They didn't drink anything. Oh
yes, they did. They didn't understand this yet.
But he drank for them. And his drinking was their drinking.
We drank when he drank. They were going to suffer also,
son, for his sake. And he may be referring to that
as well. I'm sure he is here. But our sufferings are light.
His were not. There is what is called the fellowship
of his sufferings. And I'm real honest with you,
I don't know much about that. But I know that Paul prayed in
Philippians 3.10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his suffering. I know that has to do with knowing
about his sufferings and what he accomplished when he suffered. His sorrow was unlike any other
sorrow. But I also know that we enter
into his sufferings to some extent from the word of God. Acts 5
41, those disciples, you remember they were, they were beaten for
preaching the gospel. You ever been beaten for his
sake? I doubt that. And it says, they departed from
the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name. Like I say, I don't know much
about that. I don't know much about that. Paul said to Timothy
in 2 Timothy, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. We're
going to suffer some. There's no doubt about that.
But it doesn't contribute to his drinking of that cup. We
can't drink of that cup. Our sufferings are not vicarious,
they're not meritorious, as his were, and ours are light and
not worthy, Paul said, to be compared with the glory that
shall be revealed in us because of his sufferings. Not even worthy. We won't even compare, we won't
even talk about His sufferings and ours in the same context
except to say they're not worthy to be compared. Not worthy to
be compared. Paul knew what our Lord was talking
about here later and refers to it in Romans 6. Look at it. What
I said about now when he suffered and when he was baptized, that's
our suffering for our sin. He suffered for our sin. The
Lord hath received double at your hands. for your iniquities."
How did he do that? I haven't paid anything for my
iniquities. No, but he did. He did. He did. He suffered for
me. He suffered as my representative.
He suffered in my stead. And look at Romans chapter 6.
That's what he's talking about here. In verse 1, we'll start. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. We're dead to sin because he
died, not because we're going to die. Our death is the wages
of our sin. Although even the sting of that
is taken away by his death. Death is victory for the believer.
But for the unregenerate, death is not a victory, it's not an
accomplishment, it's a punishment. It's what we deserve, and it's
just the beginning. Physical death is nothing compared
to the second death. But we were baptized into His
death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. You reckon our Lord was talking
about that baptism right there? When he said, you'll be baptized
with the baptism that I'm baptized with. When he died, when he suffered,
when he drank, when he was baptized, that's us in him. For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Raised again spiritually
from the dead as he was raised physically from the dead. And
then one day we too shall be physically raised, but already
he said, were raised, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He died for us. He suffered for us. He was raised
again. He was baptized for us. raised again for, he lives for
us, and we in him, all these things in him. It's true of us
because he, as our representative, experienced it. And so we drink
and we're baptized. This is the sense in which we're
baptized with the baptism where he was baptized. We reckon ourselves to be as
he was and is because of him. So in this sense, they didn't
know what they were asking, did they? Only Christ can drink the
cup in the sense that he drank it. Nobody can drink that cup.
He must drink it for us. He must drink it as our representative.
If they had understood that, they never would have asked the
question they did, would they? Never would have, never would
have. It would have been all about him and not so much about
where I'm gonna be sitting. If they had understood what he
had just said to them in the text, We're going to reign with
him, but not because we deserve it. It's not about that. And who are we to ask for a special
place there? The prodigal son comes asking
just to be a hired servant, not to run the household. And that's
what they were asking. And then He deals with the pride
that's in their hearts, as I said. Look at verse 24 back in our
text in Matthew 20. Verse 24, when the ten heard
it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But
Jesus called them unto Him and said, isn't that a beautiful
picture? The Lord said, you fellows gather
around here. I'm going to teach you something
today. And I pray he would do that for us this morning. You know that the princes of
the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are
great in the eyes of this world, great in the hierarchy of this
world, shall exercise, they exercise authority upon them. You know
how this world works, don't you? You know how it works. There's
big shots and medium shots and little shots. In my kingdom,
he said, it's not like that. It's not like that. It shall
not be so among you. Oh, I wish we could learn this. I wish I could learn this. But
whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.
You know how religion twists that? They say, yeah, we have
to serve for a while so we can be great later. No, service is
what is great. If you want to be great, be a
minister. That's what greatness is. He didn't say be a minister
now so you can be great later. If you want to be great, serve.
That's what he said, isn't it? And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. They didn't know what greatness
was. And we don't either. We don't either. We really don't.
We don't know anything as we ought to know. That's what I
mean by that. You may know more about it than I do. Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 8 too, if any man think he knoweth anything,
anybody? Like these fellas, we're able. You know something? You're able
to do it? He knoweth nothing yet as he
ought to know. What is greatness? What is Christ's
glory? What is His glory? I've just
read about it in God's providence. This goes so perfectly with that.
He said, father, the hour has come. Glorify. What is his glory? What did God
say when Moses said, show me your glory? What did he see? This is what he told them in
verse 28. even as the son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister." You want to know what
glory is? You want to know what greatness is? You want to know
what it is to be worthy to sit on the throne of heaven? He gave
his life a ransom for many. You're not worthy to sit there.
He is. If you sit there, it'll be by
pure, free, sovereign grace. It'll be because of what he did,
not because of anything you've done or ever will do. If they'd
have known that, they wouldn't have asked, would they? What
is greatness? What is his glory? To give his
life. To what specifically was our
Lord referring in John 13, 30, where you remember it said, Judas
received the sop and he went immediately out and it was night.
The Lord said to him, what you're fixing to do, do it quickly.
And Judas went out to conspire against the Lord Jesus Christ,
to betray him into the hands of his enemies. to be crucified
and slain, just like he had just told them in our text was gonna
happen. And therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, now
is the son of man glorified. What was he talking about when
he said that? There goes Judas to betray him into the hands
of his enemy. He said, right now, this is a moment. Right now. The Son of Man is
glorified and God is glorified in Him. If we knew what greatness
was, we wouldn't be asking for that. Religion talking about
wearing crowns and having big mansions up there. You don't
know what you're asking. Don't even know what it means
to be great. What are we going to praise Him
for throughout all eternity? What are we going to praise Him
for? Revelation 5 and verse 8. And when He, the Lamb, had taken
the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down
before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vows full of odors, Now, he's the king. There's no question
about that. He is the king. He is the eternal king. God said,
I've set my king upon my holy hill. And this is him right here.
But what's his name here? The lamb. What's his glory? The lamb is the one sitting on
the throne. His submission, his obedience
to his father, his service to his father and for his people
is his glory now. And that's what he's teaching
them here. You want to be great? Serve. Submit. Obey. Don't seek the chief seats. Seek the lowest and seek to worship
from there, the one who is great. And he came and took the book,
verse 7, out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb. Having every one of
them harps and golden vows full of odors, which are the prayers
of saints. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof.
What makes him worthy? For thou was slain. Know what
he said in our text? You want to know what greatness
is? The son of man came down to minister and to give his life. That's what greatness is. Not
your petty aspirations to sit on the throne for something you've
done. You are worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. And thou hast made us unto our
God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. All
of his people are going to reign, but not because we deserve it.
Not because of some special, you know, consideration that
we sought or deserved, because he redeemed us by his precious
blood. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and
the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000.
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb. That's where we're going to be.
We're going to be gathered around his throne, singing worthy is
the lamb. Not look where I'm sitting, or
look at my crown, or look at my mansion, or look at my rewards. Are you kidding me with that?
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth
and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I
saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne. And oh, lookie there who's sitting
on his left hand and right hand. No, I don't see anything about
that, do you? So what are we doing thinking now about what's
in this for us? And unto the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty
elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. It is his submission,
his servitude for which he is praised eternally. Serving is
glory. Serving is greatness. Obedience and service. Even when
we reign with Him, we don't stop serving. It's not we serve for
a little while, you know, we're going to suffer and serve and
then we're going to be great. He's teaching us something besides
that right now. Service is what's great. You
want to be great? Serve. Even when we reign in
with him, we just read where he has made us kings and priests.
Listen to Revelation 22, three, and there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it. And
his servant shall serve him. We're going to be kings. We still
going to be serving him. And they shall see his face and
his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord
God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.
The Lamb is the light, and in the light of the Lamb, we're
gonna serve God forever. Let's start now, shall we? We
love, the flesh loves to be ministered unto, don't we? But true greatness
is to minister. Our Lord's not saying to them.
I'll say it again. If you minister now, you'll be
great later. Ministering is greatness. Was Christ glorious in his ministering? He said he came down to minister
and to give his life. A ransom for many, which is the
culmination of his ministering. Was he glorious in that or only
later? We're going to be praising Him
for that later. Our Lord taught us not even to
desire the chief seats in the synagogue on earth, much less
desire the chief seat in glory. Let's worship the one who sits
in the chief seat, starting now. And just keep worshiping Him
forever. This world is all about being
served. But he said, it shall not be
so among you. The world is all about getting,
but our Lord's taught us better than that. He said, it's better
to give than to get. And notice these words in our
text. He said, and to give and to give. The great one is the
giver. He's the great giver. And this
will be the subject of our eternal song of praise to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. And we won't be arguing there
about who should be the greatest. We're going to be worshiping
him who is alone. Great. And when we're like him, exactly
like him, what are we going to do? We're going to serve. So
may he give us grace now to serve, to serve one another. He said,
when you're doing it to one of these least of my brethren, you're
doing it to me. You bring a glass of water to
one of his little ones, you're serving him. Revelation 7.13,
and one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these
which are arrayed in white robes? And where'd they come from? And
I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore,
therefore, because he came to minister and gave his life a
ransom for many. And we've washed our robes in
his precious blood, the blood of the lamb. Therefore, are they
before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his
temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. When we serve, we do the business
of heaven, though we do it pitifully and inadequately. That's what
we're going to do from now on. Is that all right with you? Are
you looking for some reward? Oh, to serve Him is the greatest
thing that there is. May He teach us that. Let's bow together.